In Bathinda village, hepatitis C spreading, killing people silently

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Sooch (Rampura), August 7

The menace of hepatitis C (Kala Piliya) is looming large over Sooch village in Rampura Phul tehsil of Bathinda district.

During the bhog ceremony of Gurpreet Singh (25), who died last week due to the disease, sarpanch Najar Singh said, “The story does not end here. There are more than 250 suffering from the physically incapacitating disease in our village with a population of around 2,400.”

Earlier this year, the village witnessed deaths of Bharpur Singh (50) and Surjit Kaur (50). There have been more than a dozen deaths in the past less than a decade.

The village panchayat handed over a list of confirmed 249 hepatitis C patients to the tehsildar and the SMO of the Community Health Centre, Ballianwali, recently on directions of PWD Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon whom they had approached.

“The fact is that not just these people but several more are living their lives under the impact of the disease. Instead of stopgap help by government doctors, the problem here needs a deep investigation,” panch Lambher Singh said.

Gurpreet Singh died leaving his uncle Swaran Singh and his wife suffering from the same disease. There are a large number of homes with at least two patients.

Poor farmers like Mithu Singh sold two sacks of wheat to get his viral (HCV RNA) report from a private lab in Bathinda, whereas several, including Kala Singh and his wife, cannot afford money for the Rs 5,200 advanced test available in private laboratories.

Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Dr Narinder Garg said, “We recently did get a list of 249 patients of hepatitis C, but we do not have any current count. Different teams from outside, including one from Delhi, have confirmed an unusually high prevalence of hepatitis C here.”

A majority of those affected are above 30 years of age.

The sarpanch said, “We want the government to send a team which could tell us why is the problem unusually high in our village?”

A doctor said, “We have facilities for preliminary test only. Advanced tests are done in private labs only.”

Explaining high prices in the market, panch Lambher Singh said he paid Rs 90,000, Rs 60,000 and Rs 55,000 for his father, mother and wife, respectively. Another panch Birsha Singh and his wife Sukhraj Kaur too have paid more than Rs 1 lakh.